The first supposition is that as various means are used to capture the
proceedings of an event, (Nancy mentions: Chat/IRC, Videocasts,
VOIPcasts, Podcasts, and Visual Facilitation), the performance of
encapsulating and depicting is in itself learning. You could argue
that the person who is collecting and synthesizing has acquired some
information. Using tools and a process, the words, ideas, experience,
sounds, etc., that are conveyed and shared within a context, are made
available to a virtual audience. The more engaged the "recorder" is and
the greater degree of processing needed to summarize, use metaphors,
create analogies, connect to other facts (in the present moment and
from the past), the richer that person's experience. The learning is not in thatmoment in
which these actions are taking. That's simply because learning is a
process that happens when the information shifts from short-term to
long-term memory and results in changed beliefs and behaviors.

The content of blogs, podcasts, IMs, etc. can be offered up to an
interested and engaged public. But, as such, it's just grist for the
learning mill - it's not yet learning. Until the person on the
receiving end of these technologies actively engages in a process of
assimilation/reflection/application with the latent sources of
knowledge, learning is still an unrealized possibility.

I sometimes think the misconception about learning is a symptom of
an information-rich world. It's easy to assume that if you have a lot
of content, you have a lot of learning. Ninth-grade science (not the
last course I took on the topic but one most folks have encountered)
taught us about potential energy. The wood pile could (when ignited)
provide a roaring fire; unlit it was just a lot of lumber. Those are
two distinctly different states for the same commodity. The
relationship of information to learning is more fluid as I think about
it . . . a continuum with many phase changes along the way. At one
end, the communicator sends a message . . . in between the recipient
grabs it, chews it up, matches it to existing schema, dialogues about
it, tries it out, makes it her own . . . voila learning - and maybe
some life altering transformation!

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We have created a tool for the rapid capture of knowlege called SCATE Ignite 2006. As we look to improve the product to make it more useable in live and/or collaborative environments, do any of you care to comment on exactly what real-time challenges you face in just such a situation?